1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in vacuum cleaner attachments, and, more particularly, to improvements in vacuum cleaner attachments of the type that can fit onto variously sized vacuum cleaner hoses, and that can accept and carry further or supplemental cleaner attachments, and which can reach into small spaces or crevices.
2. Relevant Background
Over the years, many sundry vacuum cleaner attachments have been proposed. Typically, a vacuum cleaner attachment attaches to a rigid portion of an extension hose from the vacuum source of the vacuum cleaner. Usually, the extension hose has a rigid plastic or metal end that receives the attachment, and a flexible portion along its length to enable the hose to be easily extended and manipulated to reach the area to be cleaned.
The mechanism by which the vacuum attachment and the end of the hose are attached is generally a tight friction fit between mating or interfitting portions of the attachment and the rigid portion of the hose. Sometimes a spring mounted button or protuberance is provided on the rigid portion of the hose that may be inserted into a retaining hole in the attachment when it is in place (or vice-versa, with a button on the attachment to mate with a hole on the hose), to provide a secure fitting, possibly in addition to the friction attachment mentioned above.
In all such attachment mechanisms, the vacuum attachment must be specially sized in order to properly fit onto the vacuum hose to provide an essentially airtight seal for efficient operation. Usually, in fact, individual vacuum cleaner manufacturers provide vacuum attachments that are specially made to fit the vacuum hoses provided with that particular manufacturer's products to assure proper operation and customer satisfaction.
Universal adapters have been proposed in the past that will fit onto various sized vacuum cleaner hoses; however, such attempts have usually resulted in relatively cumbersome, complicated, and expensive connection structures. Moreover, generally only a small range of vacuum hose diameters can be accommodated for satisfactory interfitting of the vacuum attachment to the vacuum hose.
The problems that arise in providing a suitable universal vacuum attachment mount are further aggravated when the attachment is sized for use in relatively small areas, such as window sill crevices, cracks, or the like. Of course small diameter tubes are widely used in such applications as dentist's evacuators, operating room aspirators, or the like. However, such uses generally are especially designed to be used in conjunction with specialized equipment for medical or dental office use, and are not of universal application. Nevertheless, in vacuum attachments that present a small cleaning opening, for example, on the order of about 1 cm., with an ability to couple to a vacuum cleaner hose, for example of diameter between about 3 cm. to 5 cm., the transition in diameter must be accomplished in a manner that will enable the small diameter tool to be properly manipulated.
With regard to the vacuum attachment end itself, often users abandon the attachment in frustration and use the end of the extension hose itself to reach into tight places, relying upon the force of the air drawn by the vacuum to pick up dust or particulates, even though the proximity of the hose to the region to be cleaned is not particularly close. Moreover, often the dirt or dust has become moist and is caked in place, requiring the user to scrape at the dust to break the crust to enable it to be removed. Users often use the rounded end of the vacuum cleaner hose for this purpose, but, of course, the results are not particularly satisfactory. Special "crevice attachments" have been used for this purpose that have a flattened elongated end, but they only marginally improve the results from using the extension hose end, primarily in enabling the vacuum to be extended closer to the dirt, especially in cracks or crevices of size larger than the crevice tool, but less than the end of the extension hose. The problems remain in those applications in which the dirt needs to be scraped or perturbed to enable removal.
Another problem that typically exists is that often cleaning challenges arise that cannot be solved by only a single attachment. For example, often both a scraper and a brush are needed to address a particular cleaning problem. In the past, separate attachments have been required to be individually attached and removed from the vacuum hose. This increases the needed arsenal of cleaning attachments to arm the user with sufficient tools to perform a broad range of cleaning chores, and, in view of the problems of achieving connections to a wide range of extension hose diameters, significantly increased the cost required to acquire the various vacuum attachments, for example, one for scraping, one for brushing, one having long bristles, one with short bristles, and so on.